In a bold move to overcome hardship and make some money a half dozen supposed “hollywood” stars swallowed a tarantula and crawled through a muddy pit in Costa Rica. Last year, Patricia Blagojevich, wife of disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, made an appearance on “I’m a Celebrity… Get me out Of Here,”.

Mr. Blagojevich told the New York Times, “She has to feed her kids.”
When you’re in Costa Rica, and in dire straits, assuming that all available funds and traditional sources of credit are tapped out, here are 10 ways to raise cash fast. Although all these ideas are legal, here is a list of ten less courageous – and less gross – ways to make money if you are running out of ideas and cash in Costa Rica.

1. Head to the Casino
Understand this first: this is our No. 1 most desperate way to make some quick cash, and only applies in this situation: you have some money, but not enough, and MUST have more within a very short time or your life will fall into ruin. Only then does a reasonable man consider the casino.

2. Pawn Your Stuff
Downtown San José is full of “Compra y Ventas” (pawnshops). They work like this: you offer up your prized possessions as collateral on a loan. You can later have do one of three things: redeem the loan, pay interest to keep the loan alive, or let it lapse and forfeit your goodie.

3. Hold a Garage Sale/Sell Stuff on Craigslist
No, this is not selling your garage. If you have furniture, electronics, children’s items, sports equipment, jewelry, collectibles (in other words, the usual hodgepodge of clutter that most of us once thought we needed to buy), then a yard sale may help you raise some money fast. A good alternative to the garage sale is to make use of Craigslist, a great internet site for buying and selling almost anything legal — furniture, bicycles, musical equipment, housewares, art, and whatever. Over 40 million people use it every month. It’s free and localized, so there is typically no shipping involved.

4. Make stuff to sell
Think of the proverbial lemonade stand, but all grown up. Take a stroll through the Sabana park and you will see people selling all sorts of stuff made at home and a great place for ideas.

5. Collect Your Change
If you are like most, there is hidden cash throughout your home. It may be underneath your sofa cushions, in little jars or piggy banks, but there is bound to be bounties of colones just waiting for you to unearth them. You may be surprised how much you find and how much all that “small change” is worth.

6. Recycle Scrap Metal
One way you can get some quick cash is to sell scrap metal to your local salvage yard. And Costa Rica has an endless supply of scrap metal everywhere. There are a number of good ones in Belén, across the gas station on the north side of the General Cañas, before the brewery.

7. Take In A Roommate
Sharing living expenses can put more cash in your pocket. However, if you ask someone to move into your spare room — or onto your couch — draw up rules and boundaries, even/especially if your prospective boarder is someone you know.

8. Become a Driving Instructor
This is your chance to teach Costa Ricans how to drive and make money too. Since there is no need for licensing and no need to even have a safe, working vehicle, becoming a driving instructor is a simple a placing an ad in the local newspaper, supermarket notice board or letting your neighbours know. Here is a tag line you might you “learn to drive the American way”.

9. Dog Walker, errand runner, driver or computer consultant
We lumped than all into one, since anyone can walk a dog, run an errand, driver or give advice on computers.

10. Sell Stuff to Motorists
If all the above have failed or are not for you, there is always the “roadside sales” route, where can pull in some quick cash. Pick high-profit items that aren’t highly perishable and/or have a high cost/sale price ratio: cold soda, corn, baked goods, flowers. Of course, a good spot where there is traffic congestion is the best. And in San José that is easy finding a good spot.